I wish everyone could see the movie that I see when I watch "The Last Jedi". I don't mean this in a condescending way.I'm not going to try to defend this movie, I can only tell you why I like it. In order to do that, you would need to know where my head was going into this movie.

As an artist, I know a reaction to a piece of art depends on what the viewer brings to it. To quote old Ben, "the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view."

First, I should say that I loved Princess Leia as a kid, and later I grew to love Carrie Fisher the writer, who filled her books with semi-autobigraphical stories told with her trademark sardonic wit. I never romanticized, "deified" or idolized her, because she wouldn't let you. She told her whole truth with her writing and I admired the guts and strength that it took to talk openly about her struggles with mental illness and addiction. I had the upmost respect for her, and was delighted at how she made every autograph session, interview and convention panel an unpredictable joy to watch.

Then she passed away. Someone filled with so much life, was suddenly gone, far too soon.

My questions of "who are Rey;s parents" and "where did this new Palpatine named Snoke come from" were quickly replaced with a more real-world concern: "Oh my god what are they going to do with the character of Leia now that Carrie is gone?"

I have seen "The Last Jedi" six times now. I regret nothing about this. To me it is worth it, because of one scene.

When Luke appears to Leia on Crait, he begins to speak, and she cuts him off, making a wonderful call back to her scene with Han in TFA, "I know what you're going to say, I changed my hair." Luke tells her he likes her hair, sits and says "I'm sorry".Leia responds, "I know. I know you are, I'm just glad you're here with me at the end", and I feel my heart begin to break. "I've held out hope for so long," she says, " but I finally realize that my son is gone." "No one is ever really gone", he tells her, then places Han's dice into her open hand. Luke stands to kiss her forehead, and they are bathed in light streaming in from behind them.

No one is ever really gone...and I am gutted.

Now, I know when this was written and filmed, this exchange was meant to comfort her about Han's death, as well as foreshadow his own sacrifice. But, in light of Carrie's passing, it feels like Mark saying goodbye to Carrie, and by extension, the audience is saying goodbye to her as well. It is an emotional and unbelievably cathartic moment for me as a fan of Leia and a fan of Carrie. Even though she does have a few more scenes in the film, I truly feel like this was the best way to give her the character the closure she deserves, with an on screen reunion and a wonderful goodbye from her fictional brother and real life friend.

This scene is so beautiful that any other perceived flaws of this movie are forgiven.

I can't praise Rian Johnson enough for what he did with this film. It is unexpected, audacious , emotional and new. It was everything I never thought it could be, and everything I needed. Rey asks at the end "How do we build a rebellion from this?" Leia answers simply and perfectly, "We have everything we need."

That statement is a beautiful bow that ties this amazing gift together, and feels like a meta commentary to the audience. It is Leia comforting Rey, and it is Carrie reassuring the audience with the words of Rian.

The movie is not for everyone, I suppose. That's fine, I get it. Everyone has an opinion. This is mine: I love it.I plan on seeing it at least once a week until it's gone from theaters.

BruceW wrote:I wish everyone could see the movie that I see when I watch "The Last Jedi". I don't mean this in a condescending way.I'm not going to try to defend this movie, I can only tell you why I like it. In order to do that, you would need to know where my head was going into this movie.

As an artist, I know a reaction to a piece of art depends on what the viewer brings to it. To quote old Ben, "the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view."

First, I should say that I loved Princess Leia as a kid, and later I grew to love Carrie Fisher the writer, who filled her books with semi-autobigraphical stories told with her trademark sardonic wit. I never romanticized, "deified" or idolized her, because she wouldn't let you. She told her whole truth with her writing and I admired the guts and strength that it took to talk openly about her struggles with mental illness and addiction. I had the upmost respect for her, and was delighted at how she made every autograph session, interview and convention panel an unpredictable joy to watch.

Then she passed away. Someone filled with so much life, was suddenly gone, far too soon.

My questions of "who are Rey;s parents" and "where did this new Palpatine named Snoke come from" were quickly replaced with a more real-world concern: "Oh my god what are they going to do with the character of Leia now that Carrie is gone?"

I have seen "The Last Jedi" six times now. I regret nothing about this. To me it is worth it, because of one scene.

When Luke appears to Leia on Crait, he begins to speak, and she cuts him off, making a wonderful call back to her scene with Han in TFA, "I know what you're going to say, I changed my hair." Luke tells her he likes her hair, sits and says "I'm sorry".Leia responds, "I know. I know you are, I'm just glad you're here with me at the end", and I feel my heart begin to break. "I've held out hope for so long," she says, " but I finally realize that my son is gone." "No one is ever really gone", he tells her, then places Han's dice into her open hand. Luke stands to kiss her forehead, and they are bathed in light streaming in from behind them.

No one is ever really gone...and I am gutted.

Now, I know when this was written and filmed, this exchange was meant to comfort her about Han's death, as well as foreshadow his own sacrifice. But, in light of Carrie's passing, it feels like Mark saying goodbye to Carrie, and by extension, the audience is saying goodbye to her as well. It is an emotional and unbelievably cathartic moment for me as a fan of Leia and a fan of Carrie. Even though she does have a few more scenes in the film, I truly feel like this was the best way to give her the character the closure she deserves, with an on screen reunion and a wonderful goodbye from her fictional brother and real life friend.

This scene is so beautiful that any other perceived flaws of this movie are forgiven.

I can't praise Rian Johnson enough for what he did with this film. It is unexpected, audacious , emotional and new. It was everything I never thought it could be, and everything I needed. Rey asks at the end "How do we build a rebellion from this?" Leia answers simply and perfectly, "We have everything we need."

That statement is a beautiful bow that ties this amazing gift together, and feels like a meta commentary to the audience. It is Leia comforting Rey, and it is Carrie reassuring the audience with the words of Rian.

The movie is not for everyone, I suppose. That's fine, I get it. Everyone has an opinion. This is mine: I love it.I plan on seeing it at least once a week until it's gone from theaters.

Great post Bruce! On a separate thought, would you share in the Off Topic Thread a little showcase of your artwork? I'm sure many have seen your talents before, but many more probably haven't...

I whent for a drink before Christmas with some friends, one of which whent to watch the TLJ with me the first time. We got talking about it and I brought up how I wasn’t to shaw about the Yode scene, just how to me Yoda doesn’t always look like a force ghost. My friend piped up and said that when I first saw a glimpse of Yoda I shouted yes.

Got me thinking about how before I whent to see it I was really hoping that we would see Ben Kenobi or Yoda as forceghosts and then when Yoda appeared I was so happy, but then disappointment quickly followed. Subconsciously when I go to watch a new Star Wars film I’m hoping that I’m going to get a glimmer of feeling from the origionals, which we all know isn’t possible.

So no matter how good that Yoda scene had been I think I would have been disappointed with it.

The movie is not for everyone, I suppose. That's fine, I get it. Everyone has an opinion. This is mine: I love it.I plan on seeing it at least once a week until it's gone from theaters.

Are you for real? I mean: Leia fetish is one thing, but do you have shares funded by Disney? It is an average sci-fi movie, no more and no less... But that will be my opinion 'from a certain point of view'. Yuck...............

The movie is not for everyone, I suppose. That's fine, I get it. Everyone has an opinion. This is mine: I love it.I plan on seeing it at least once a week until it's gone from theaters.

Are you for real? I mean: Leia fetish is one thing, but do you have shares funded by Disney? It is an average sci-fi movie, no more and no less... But that will be my opinion 'from a certain point of view'. Yuck...............

A bit harsh but at least we all know that everyone is entitled to their own opinion and it does seem that this film has split the fans right down the middle like no other I can think of.

For me I enjoyed it the two times I watched it and know that at the end of the day it's really just meant to be a bit of entertainment and not something to get angry at. For all us OT people we really did already have our SW and these new ones are for a new crowd and we can either enjoy them or not. The OT will always be there to relive the magic of when SW first appeared and no one can ever take that away.....well unless George is let loose on them again to mess them up some more!

I never go into a film with a mental tick list of what it needs to be, because, like it or not, this is a film made for the masses to make as much money as it can, cold hard truth. Like anything in life it is what it is to you, there is no "perfect" film for everyone.

I enjoyed the film, enjoyed the characters for what they are and the nods to the OT.

For those that don't like the film, that is their opinion which is to be respected, as is the view of those that like it.

It is inevitable that change comes along, but we can all hold on to what is precious to us, and look for the positives moving forwards ...best of both worlds IMHO

Saw it for the third time the other day. Cinema was 3/4 full and there was a lot of laughter (in all the right places). There was a very positive buzz afterwards. My 9-year-old says it's now his favourite film...

The movie is not for everyone, I suppose. That's fine, I get it. Everyone has an opinion. This is mine: I love it.I plan on seeing it at least once a week until it's gone from theaters.

Are you for real? I mean: Leia fetish is one thing, but do you have shares funded by Disney? It is an average sci-fi movie, no more and no less... But that will be my opinion 'from a certain point of view'. Yuck...............

Can you please let us know why you scored this on your movie rating, especially as you are so against TLJ:

1 The Empire Strikes Back2 Return of the Jedi3 A New Hope4 Rogue One5 Revenge of the Sith6 The Last Jedi7 Attack of the Clones8 The Phantom Menace9 The Force Awakens10 The Ewok Adventure/ Battle for Endor11 The Holiday Special

This was your ratings in the other thread. Going by the way you have been so against TLJ I cannot fathom how you have it at number 6??? Surely TPM is better (that's my opinion though) and I would have thought TLJ would have been bottom for you.

Let it go bud. I've said my bit about TLJ and even if I don't like it I don't think its fair that you keep slagging it off. We get it, you don't like it but don't try to keep moaning about it if you are intent on changing peoples minds about it. There are other who like it, just leave it at that.

Vintage toys ,prop and autograph collector and Luton Town FC supporter.Also try to play guitar with the guy in my avatar as an inspiration!JASON BECKER STILL THE BEST EVER AND STILL HERE DESPITE A.L.S.

Leaving aside the main problem (the story), I'll just pick out a few things as they occur to me sitting here now.

If Rey is not related to anyone, and Luke has no idea who she is, then why on earth was he in hiding? If he was waiting for Rey to get old enough so she could could be trained and help him fight the baddies, that makes sense. But if not, he was basically just sitting on that island for nothing. He just ran away? Lame.

Why does Luke catch a fish with the galaxy's longest pole?

What the fuck was up with the whole master codebreaker bit? What was the shit about his red badge? All that for a character that's in the movie for about three minutes tops.

Fucking Snoke. So he was the main baddie for about ten minutes across two films.

Luke does the old, Jedi projection trick and doesn't die! Whoo! But then he dies two minutes later of... er... overuse of force? If he was going to die anyway, what was the point of the projection thing? Was he just Trolling Kylo? Wouldn't it have been better to fight him for real? At least then he'd at least have a chance of killing him. I get that he was buying time, but why not just tell everyone to slip out the back with the foxes and forget the whole thing.

I'm sure I'll think of more in a minute, overall I thought it was a complete mess. The worst part is I can't think of a single scene that if I was a kid I'd watch again and again like I used to.

Watched it today and you nailed it mate. A part from a few good bits it was fucking awful, as bad as the worst of the prequels. Leia's space walk took the biscuit however...simply awful.